Japanese bento (弁当)

Before I went to Japan, I made a wish list and one of them is try the railroad bento. I made a list of specialized bentos for the cities that I might stop-by or list.

This tiny food box can have so many variations.  Each train station has specialized bentos that made from local produces. One of the train stations from Hokaido is famous for the stuffed squid. The squid is stuffed with sticky rice then cooked in soy based broth. Sendai offers its famous ox tongue bento. There are even books listing popular and famous railroad bentos. The bento containers are collectable for fans. Some of them are offered limited number everyday, seasonal or during certain time. 

Somehow everytime I arrived the train station was last minute which didn't give me much time to look for the bento selling spot. (sigh!!!)

I got my first bento in the department store in front of Sin-Osaka. It looked like it was from a well-known restaurant. The dishes were maily soy-based. I am not a big rice eater, but the rice was just sooooo....... good. Outstanding! That's the only word I can think of. The taste and texture are definitely different from the good quality Japanese rice I bought in Asian supermarket. 

These were the bentos I got from department store in Himeji. I rushed into the store and grabbed these 2 within 10 minutes in a very speedy way. The arrangement looked so appetizing. According to my cousin, the best time to get good deal on these bentos are few hours before the department stores close. These vendors have to clean the house. Everything left for the day has to go. When my cousin was an exchange student in Japan, she would take the advantage of buying bentos for her lunch and dinner for the next day. It was a very good deal. The downside was the place could get very packed. Since everyone is out hunting for the good bargain. Isetan department store is a well-know store. The one in Kyoto station is busy enough during non-weekend day time. When we went there at night for cheap bargain, the place was jam packed.  

Instead of coke, I had a very in-style drink -- green tea. It came from vending machine and was warm. Pretty cool!

During my trip, I had few other bentos, but I just forgot to take pictures. Yes I am getting my Alzheimer early.